Disney has been praised for casting a Chinese actor in the title role of its upcoming live-action version of Mulan.

Disney announced past year that the Mulan reboot would feature an all-Asian cast after fans started a petition to make sure the film is not whitewashed by Hollywood again.

According to Hollywood Reporter, a team of casting directors made time to visit five continents and saw almost 1,000 candidates for the lead role, which requires unbelievable martial arts skills, the ability to speak fluent in English and having the "star quality". The actress, who has been nicknamed "Fairy Sister" by the Chinese, spent part of her childhood in NY and has acted in English-language films, including 2008's The Forbidden Kingdom, opposite Jackie Chan and Jet Li. As BBC News notes, recent films accused of whitewashing include the Hollywood remake of Japanese anime Ghost in the Shell, which starred Scarlett Johansson, and Chinese epic The Great Wall which had Matt Damon as its lead. The role is said to require credible martial arts skills, the ability to speak English and star quality.

Niki Caro, who helmed the "The Zookeper's Wife" is set to direct the much-awaited live-action adaptation of the famous Disney movie. You may have heard about 2017's "The Chinese Widow", in which she starred alongside Emile Hirsch. The English-language version of the original Mulan (1998) featured the voices of Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, Miguel Ferrer, and BD Wong, while Jackie Chan provided his voice for Chinese dubs of the movie.

Liu, who spent part of her childhood in NY, has starred in both English- and Chinese-language films over the years.

After a year-long search and a few bumps in the road when certain issues followed the upcoming live-action remake, Disney finally found its "Mulan".